Camp Las Casas

Camp Las Casas
Santurce, Puerto Rico
Officer Staff of the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry (c.1906) at Camp Las Casas
Location of Las Casas area in Santurce.
Coordinates	18°25′57″N 66°02′25″W / 18.43250°N 66.04028°W / 18.43250; -66.04028
Type	Military base
Site information
Controlled by	Formerly by the U.S. Army
Site history
Built	1904 (1904)
In use	1904–1946
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Garrison information
Garrison	65th Infantry Regiment

Camp Las Casas was a United States military installation established in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 1904. The camp was the main training base of the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry," a segregated U.S. Army Regiment which was later renamed the "65th Infantry Regiment." The base continued in operation until 1946, when it was finally closed.

After the Spanish–American War ended, Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States as a result of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, ratified on December 10, 1898. Spain had lost its last colony in the western hemisphere and the United States gained imperial strength and global presence. The United States established a military government and appointed Major General Nelson A. Miles the first head of the military government established on the island, acting as both head of the army of occupation and administrator of civil affairs.

On January 15, 1899, the military government changed the name of Puerto Rico to "Porto Rico."

The Army Appropriation Bill created by an Act of Congress On March 2, 1889 authorized the creation of the first body of native troops in Puerto Rico. On June 30, 1901, the "Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry" was organized. On July 1, 1901, the United States Senate passed a Bill which would require a strict mental and physical examination for those who wanted to join the Regiment. Under the provisions of an act of Congress approved April 23, 1904 and of Circular No. 34, War Department, July 29, 1904, the recruitment of native Puerto Rican civilians to be appointed the grade of second lieutenants for a term of four years, was approved with the condition that they pass the required tests. The "Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry" was renamed the "Porto Rico Regiment."

Though many civilians from all walks of life applied for the officers' appointment in January 1905, only seven made it that day. One of them was Teófilo Marxuach who, from 1903 to 1905, had worked as a civil engineer for the Porto Rico Regiment in the Aqueduct of Cayey. An Act of Congress, approved on May 27, 1908, reorganized the regiment as part of the "regular" Army. Since the native Puerto Rican officers were Puerto Rican citizens and not citizens of the United States, they were required to undergo a new physical examination to determine their fitness for commissions in the Regular Army, and to take an oath of U.S. citizenship with their new officer's oath.